Counselors...the key to success!

Counselors...the key to success!

Sunday, February 24, 2008

Reading back through my Valentine's post made me realize how important great role models are in the lives of young girls. Navigating the waters of parenthood certainly isn't easy, even when blessed with great kids...AND we all have great kids! This is staff recruiting season. Luckily for us, like campers, it is really more "re-enrollment" season than it is recruiting season. Spearheaded by Director Laurie Strayhorn and Associate Director Gretchen Greene, our staffing efforts really begin in December and carry us all the way to camp. If you ever have the urge to ask us "what we do in the off-season," this is a big part of it! Besides the mint juleps and bon-bons on the deck!

As a parent, I am humbled by the "job" that other parents do, especially when we reunite with some of the great older gals who make up a very successful summer staff at camp. Laurie and I took a quick trip to Gator Land this past week, and were able to visit with Nicole K.,Jamie K., Brynn W.,Mary Hillyer P. and Emily E. A rainy and blustery day in Gainesville, it was such fun to sit and sip lattes and hang out at the KD house and find out what these girls are up to...knocking the top off academically, job hunting, doing community service, practice teaching and getting excited for camp! Mary Hillyer's part-time job is making sure the Gator student-athletes are attending class! You know, you would think...

If you have read my summer blogs, you know that we "make no bones" about the fact that our counselors (and campers) are what make Illahee the best girls camp anywhere! We are blessed with a beautiful facility, lots of fun stuff to do...but it is the people who keep us all coming back year after year!

Illahee is also a welcoming place...more so than any other camp that I know. We love welcoming new staff members to our family! If you know of any college-aged girls who would make great Illahee staff members (and have the summer of their lives), please email Laurie! They could be a great baby-sitter, teacher, coach or friend. We look forward to hearing from you. Think Camp!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Thursday, February 14, 2008

Happy Valentine's Day! Laurie and I have noticed lately that our social life is taking second seat to our children's. Don't get me wrong...we have a wonderful group of friends and are able to get out or host them at least once a week or so. There is nothing I like more than inviting friends to join us at Pinecrest, overlooking the canoe lake and pastures for a great evening of conversation and food. We have a great deck with an outdoor fireplace that has found us outside even in blowing snow!

Gardner, our fifteen-year old always has a full social calendar, but she is not an advance planner. We feel blessed that our home is "teen central" for her group of girlfriends. Well, maybe blessed is not always the overriding emotion I have as I stumble down the hall on a weekend hoping that we programmed the coffee maker right the night before...stepping over clothes and dishes and all the rest of the stuff that comes with constant in and out. One day recently, our crew had left for school and I was sitting in my PJs reading the paper and one of Gardner's best friends, Jessica, walked down the hall, glanced in, and said, "hi Pop." She emerged out of Gardner's room about five minutes later looking cute in a pink Valentine's outfit and asked, "how do I look"? We are both grateful that our house is a welcoming place for so many friends, and probably can sacrifice our privacy and social calendar for our kids for now as it will end soon enough.

We spent Valentine's Day with the rest of Asheville standing in line at Carraba's waiting for a table, which actually came fairly quickly considering the number who had the same idea as the four girls we had in tow. Dads out there will recognize my eagerness to abandon my own plans for a romantic evening out with Laurie when Gardner came up with her usual last minute plan to forego any boys with three other girlfriends...that we could take them to dinner (but not sit with them). All four girls are beautiful, fun, and smart girls...the kind that we all dreamed about when I was coming of age. So I jumped at the chance to whisk them away from the invitations that they all had received from boyfriends or admirers. I bought roses for each girl, and was able to enjoy dinner with my own valentine, about 6 tables over and behind a room divider.

Our parenting lives are changing quickly. Gardner (and Turner to a lesser extent) are craving more and more autonomy. She never misses a chance to let us know that "she can do it herself" and that we are "soooo strict" compared to her friend's moms and dads. As parents, we crave occasional glimpses into the adult that she will become, realizing that there is still more "little girl" there than anything. After the Valentine's night outing, she came in and gave me a big hug,, and said she had a great time...that "her friends don't think I'm Hitler after all." As you, I know that probably tomorrow I'll be Mussolini. But, this too will pass. Happy Valentine's Day!